Beach Day
Kanine Records
Beach Day

Hollywood, Florida is not your typical beach town. The buildings, diners, and of course the beach appear frozen in the 1950's. Probably a result of the town's population boom happening in that era, a current drive down the streets feels like your moving through an R. Crumb drawing. Things seem exaggerated and a bit odd. The now mature population seems a caricature of their former selves.

It is this strange place, lovingly dubbed Hollyweird, Florida, that the trio Beach Day calls home. Their sound is heavily influenced by their surroundings. They make new music, but it is definitely old at heart. And it's definitely sunny, but not without some murkiness.

Kimmy, Natalie and Skyler met at a local show and quickly bonded over their love of 60's Girl Groups, their dissatisfaction with their current musical endeavors and a common desire to be in a band that was purely about fun and making music without pretense.

Skyler was living in Asheville but missing the beach culture, so he moved back. Natalie was planning a move to the west coast but already had song ideas, so she decided to stay. The two moved into a house with Kimmy and all acquired jobs at the local Smoothie Shack. Somewhat of a big commitment for a band that just wants to have fun, but the first song they wrote together came easy. It is called Beach Day, and it is their first release out July 17th on Kanine Records (limited edition white vinyl 7" & digital download).

An embodiment of their surroundings and love of 60's girl groups, Beach Day sounds as you might expect. Think of a female fronted Beach Boys, throw in some The Shangri-La's, The Ventures, The Sonics, Phil Spector, The Ronettes, add in contemporaries Cults, Jacuzzi Boys, Dum Dum Girls and the Black Lips and you have a soundtrack for your perfect Beach Day.

"Singer Kimmy Drake has the true voice of a girl-group leading lady, something like a young, white Ronnie Spector raised on punk" Orlando Weekly

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Bear Mountain
Last Gang Entertainment
Bear Mountain

“‘A hopeful utopian future’ is how one of our friends best described our sound,” Ian Bevis, frontman of Vancouver based electro-dance band Bear Mountain, explains. Born and raised in Vancouver, Bevis’ affinity for experimenting with sounds and beats on his MPC grew quickly. He left Vancouver for the University of Victoria where Bevis became friends with, then Entomology major, guitarist Kyle Statham and the two began collaborating on various styles of music.

A few years and a few bands later, Bear Mountain was officially born as the bedroom project of Bevis and Statham in 2011. With their name drawing reference from the Jack Kerouac classic “Dharma Bums”, the two set out to find an alternative sound that blended live instrumentation with a dancing heartbeat. Soon after the recording of their first bedroom demos, the duo felt their sound was lacking a strong backbone and enlisted the help of Bevis’ identical twin brother, drummer Greg Bevis. Bear Mountain’s tight live performances and eclectic blend of sounds caught the attention of, now band member, Kenji Rodriguez. Flipping the traditional role of “band member” on its head, Rodriguez serves as the band’s visual and creative director. Also a collaborator at Tangible Interaction, one of the world’s premier trailblazers in interactive visuals and lighting, Rodriguez manipulates projections and lights live right from the stage bringing a unique look and experience to every Bear Mountain performance.

“Two Step”, the opening to Bear Mountain’s debut album, “XO”, begins with a tropical samba-style drum loop layered with tight, live drums, lush synth sounds, and chopped vocal samples. Hooky synth lines and Bevis’ powerful and emotive vocals lay atop nostalgic house-drenched production on “Faded”, the midway point of the album. “XO” is a collection of unmistakably fresh songs that manage to capture the feeling of the infinite and the impossible all rolled into one. “XO” is available on May 21, 2013 worldwide through Last Gang Records.

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Bevel Summers
Public Works Division
Bevel Summers

Leave Jeb Brinkley to his own devices between the hours of midnight and five a.m. and something’s bound to happen. With a little whiskey and a guitar lying around, the Chapel Hillian— originally from Irmo, South Carolina — is prone to wax poetic on every shade of heartbreak. From Appalachian folk ballads to the Mississippi Delta Blues, Brinkley channels it all in concise, foot-stomping iterations of old-time sounds. Listen to Bevel Summers and you’ll hear what it’s like to be a twenty-something reared on Jim Croce and Roger Miller cassettes playing in the car on the way to school, and a mother's homemade rendition of The Beatles as a lullaby before bed.

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Big Tree
Big Tree
Big Tree

Big Tree is an indie pop quintet, conjuring up "the kind of twee-rock that follows in the footsteps of The New Seekers and The Free Design with their sweetly enchanting sound which rings both lushly produced and delightfully rag-tag DIY at the same time. A much smaller, earthier Polyphonic Spree, if you will." Born in the Big Apple, the five-piece recently relocated to sunny California, where they've quickly become a thriving element of the Bay Area music scene. The band's past three years have seen 4 cross-country tours, two full length albums, two Daytrotter Sessions, the NYC Deli Magazine Band of the Month title, and over 250 incredible shows. This environmentally-minded group gets from show to show in a tour van that runs on recycled vegetable oil, bought with the help and support of their fans.

Big Tree is still growing and expanding with the release of their second full length album This New Year. This New Year finds the band expanding on a sound that is "a difficult one to classify, but an easy one to enjoy" (Fensepost). It is infectious pop music splashed with colorful harmonies, driven by pulsing rhythms, unique time signatures, group vocals, and poetic quirky imagery. Kaila McIntyre-Bader, Anna Ghezzi, Luke Bace, Dan Pirello, and Matt Schory have been called "fiercely talented" (Prarie Dog) and "remarkably captivating" (Magnet Magazine). Growing roots on the West Coast, Big Tree is ready to defy the limits of pop music and show the world a new genre that can be enjoyed by hipsters, hippies, and mainstream masses alike.

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Blac Rabbit
How Far Music
Blac Rabbit

Born and raised in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, identical twin brothers Amiri and Rahiem Taylor do not make the type of music that their borough of origin is usually associated with. Growing up in the mecca of hip hop culture, the Taylor brothers had more exposure in their house to pop, funk and soul music from the 60's, 70's and 80's. In high school they taught themselves how to play guitar and write songs based off of the Beatles. After high school they formed Blac Rabbit, bringing in former metal and church drummer Patrick Jones, followed by resident shredder Josh Lugo on bass (and sometimes guitar) to play their original psychedelic rock tunes. Tired of working boring grocery store jobs, Amiri and Rah started performing Beatles covers on the NYC subway, earning some pocket change, slowly building a reputation around the city while also performing their original material in New York's best venues for up and coming acts. On December 23rd, 2017, the band released their debut self-titled EP, which was also self recorded and self mixed. On January 26th, 2018, Rah and Amiri were filmed performing Beatles songs on the train by New York Nico, the "Unofficial talent scout of New York City," who posted the video to his 120K+ followers on Instagram. One of the videos went viral generating over 25M streams, leading to numerous TV and Radio appearances, including The Ellen Degeneres Show. The band also recorded a cover of “Michelle” by the The Beatles for a Gucci ad campaign featuring Harry Styles. Meanwhile Blac Rabbit’s fan base has increased significantly while they have been touring globally and recording their debut full length album, set for release early 2019.

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Blackbear and Surf Bums
Wolf House Songs
Blackbear and Surf Bums

Out in the surf of one of the most perfect swells the east coast has ever seen, Ricky Hamilton, Carter Luckfield, and Jared Chapman joined forces under the spirit of blackbear. The overwhelming good vibes urged them to devote their energy to making tasty music for the world to enjoy on their transistors at the beach. They then recorded "Geep Rangler" and "Elated" in a dorm bedroom in Nashville Tennessee. They gigged and decided to record a full length album called El Ano Del Surf. The first installment of El Ano Del Surf took shape as the "Eddie Would Go' E.P. released June 9th, 2012

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Bleeding Rainbow
Kanine Records
Bleeding Rainbow

Nevermind the constant threat of a cease and desist letter, when Carrie Brownstein tells you that your band name is weak, you change it. But it isn't as simple as a name change for Philadelphia's minimal noise pop duo Reading Rainbow, significant line up additions facilitated the adoption of a new moniker. So...drum roll please...as we reintroduce Philadelphia's Bleeding Rainbow, now a full-blown, Brownstein-approved, rock quartet. The name better represents the band's evolving sound and is all around more badass and trippy as sh*t. The founding members, Sarah Everton, who moved from drums to bass to give her vocals a better chance to shine, and vocalist/guitarist Rob Garcia are now joined by Al Creedon on lead guitar and drummer Greg Frantz.

While 2010's album release Prism Eyes gained significant attention and raised the band's profile among the indie elite, even that set might not be aware of the previous self-released album Mystical Participation. If Prism Eyes is, by their own description, their attempt at writing pop songs, and Mystical Participation emphasizes an aesthetic of loud and drone-y guitars instead of focused song structure, Yeah Right, the band's third album set for release January 29th, 2013 on Kanine Records, is the merging and maturation of all these ideas and sounds.

For Yeah Right, the band has opted for a bi-polar approach to production, pushing the extremes of murky, ominous and sometimes harsh and fuzzed-out guitar onslaughts ("Pink Ruff") as well as a strong repertoire of hushed, ethereal moments ("Cover the Sky") aiming to evoke a nostalgia for 90s slacker culture without sounding bored or contrived. While previous releases reside in the reverb-soaked psychedelic pop realm, Bleeding Rainbow says, "the sound this time around was more directly influenced by bands from our teenage-hood such as Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, and Yo La Tengo to name a few." Mixing hints of Greg Sage's anthemic, anxiety-ridden punk riffs, with equal parts drone and noise swells reminiscent of Kevin Shields at his most inventive, and overlaying of boy-girl harmonies has Bleeding Rainbow channeling the Mamas and the Papas as if backed by early Smashing Pumpkins.

With the inclusion of two long time friends and supporters of the band, Bleeding Rainbow has not only freed itself from the limitations of a two-piece, but given themselves a chance to delve deeper into the mood of songs and allow for extended instrumental sections ("Drift Away"). A more collaborative songwriting approach has resulted in more complex songs, but that does not mean they are without pretty sounds or pop moments. So while Yeah Right opens up easy and welcoming ("Go Ahead"), the end will leave you feeling as if a wall of noise has permeated through your body ("Get Lost"). Bleeding Rainbow set out to create something beautiful from harsh noise, and Yeah Right succeeds wildly at doing just that.

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Breakfast in Fur
Bar None Records
Breakfast in Fur

With the February 3, 2015 release of Flyaway Garden on Bar/None Records, Breakfast In Fur showcases their full maturation as a band, drawing on influences as varied as sixties pop, British IDM, avant-garde jazz, psychedelia, shoegaze, ambient music and punk. Recorded in various studios, living rooms, and attics throughout the Hudson Valley, Flyaway Garden is an intricate soundscape encompassing an eclectic mix of instrumentation and musical styles.

Moving around upstate New York in his early twenties, Dan Wolfe found himself living in a friend’s laundry room in Ithaca. It was here he began experimenting on an old four track recorder and developing the aesthetic that would later evolve into Breakfast In Fur. In the summer of 2007 Wolfe moved again and landed in the small mountain town of New Paltz, NY. Once settled, Wolfe began to devote all his time to late night/early morning recording sessions that resulted in a collection of layered, intimate pop songs with foundations in folk and psychedelic music.

Coaxed by a friend into taking a break from his reclusive music making, Wolfe met artist and musician Kaitlin Van Pelt at a party and soon afterwards shared with her the recordings he had been working on. Wolfe asked Van Pelt to sing alongside him on these tracks and together they finished the songs and produced hundreds of hand-made CD-R’s that they distributed throughout the Hudson Valley. They called their project and the eponymous EP that resulted “Breakfast in Fur.”Sonically the EP is a self-contained universe of jangly guitar, children’s toy sounds, layered percussion, droning accordion and soft, whispered vocals. Released as a 10”vinyl on Analog Edition Records in 2011, these recordings would be a starting point for the project.

Mike Hollis, a guitarist and one of Wolfe’s first friends and roommates in New Paltz, played live music with several groups locally and insisted they start a band to play Breakfast In Fur’s songs live. Soon Wolfe, Van Pelt and Hollis were writing new material and experimenting with various collaborators as they played shows around the Hudson Valley and New York City. Together with multi-instrumentalist Matt Ross and drummer Chris Walker, Breakfast In Fur started working on the recordings that would become their debut full-length album, Flyaway Garden.

While maintaining elements of the pastoral folk of their first EP on songs like “Portrait and Whisper”, Flyaway Garden also sees the band moving into more aggressive, punk influenced territories with tracks such as “Shape and Setting Stone”. British IDM and ambient music play a significant role on their newalbum, most notably in the electronic textures that accent, and occasionally envelop these recordings. Perhaps best representing Breakfast In Fur’s multi-faceted aesthetic is their cover of Neil Young’s “Cripple Creek Ferry”, which brings together their many musical influences into a single recording. At once a dreamy pop song, a pulsing work of dissonant electronic music, an homage to a classic rock hero, and a prog-rock mini-epic in three movements, Breakfast In Fur’s production of “Cripple Creek Ferry” is a highly original and complex recontextualizing of Neil Young’s song that both embraces the past, and moves far beyond it

As Wolfe told the Miscreant Fanzine about the lyrical content of their latest album, “the new record has a lot of songs about time and identity—like when you look at a photograph of yourself as a child... how are you that person? There’s a lot about that kind of feeling.”These questions of identity and the passing of time crop up all over Flyaway Garden. Tellingly the cover art features an illustrated version of Wolfe as a four year old overtaken by flowing layers of color.

Now performing live as Dan Wolfe, Kaitlin Van Pelt, Mike Hollis, Chris Walker and Pete Newman, Flyaway Garden marks Breakfast In Fur’s transition from the quiet bedroom folk of their first EP into the experimental psychedelic rock of their new album.

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Cab 20
Riptide Music Group
Cab 20

Cab 20 is a four piece rock & roll band from El Segundo, California that formed in 2010. They've earned a growing amount of critical acclaim through their energetic live performances and their well produced albums in a genre that is noted for it’s mostly casual, lo-fi approach to music. With two releases already under their belt, they have released a highly anticipated full length studio album, Holy Denim Faded Vibrations, in February of 2013. No strangers to the spotlight, Cab 20 has already shared the stage with such bands as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Howlin Rain, Hacienda, FIDLAR, and Night Beats. They've had songs featured on Degrassi, Burton and more. Truly a band not to miss out on.

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Cadence Weapon
Upper Class Recordings
Cadence Weapon

Roland Pemberton was born with hip hop in his DNA. His father, Teddy Pemberton, a Brooklyn native and the muse for Cadence Weapon's acclaimed sophomore album, Afterparty Babies, was a pioneering college radio DJ and in 2010 was inducted into the Hall Of Fame during Canada's National DJ Awards, the Stylus Awards. He's credited for introducing hip-hop to Rollie's hometown of Edmonton, Alberta through his show, The Black Experience In Sound on CJSR-FM.

Following in his father's groundbreaking footsteps, Rollie discovered he wanted to rap at the tender age of 13. Pemberton first gained massive grassroots support for his mixtape "Cadence Weapon Is The Black Hand". He soon followed up with his explosive debut "Breaking Kayfabe" and the album yielded instant praise and notoriety culminating in nominations from the Polaris Music Prize, the Canadian Indie Awards and "Best Rap Album of 2006" at the Plug Independent Music Awards, and won the CBC Radio 3's Bucky Award.

Pemberton has performed with Public Enemy, De La Soul, Mos Def, Questlove, Kool Keith and Lupe Fiasco and toured extensively with acts as diverse as Jurassic 5, Final Fantasy, Islands and Buck 65. He's played internationally renowned festivals such as Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, Roskilde, Pitchfork Music Festival, Incubate and Germany's Splash! Festival. He's remixed Grimes, Roots Manuva, Chad VanGaalen, Kid Sister, Busdriver, Disco D and Stars and made acclaimed bootleg mixes of tracks by Ciara ("Oh") and Rick Ross/Simian Mobile Disco ("Hustlin' Hustler"). He inked deals with labels Epitaph and Big Dada. Most impressively, this was before he reached age of majority.

Deemed by Dazed and Confused as "hip hop's saviour", Cadence Weapon is changing the game. Hope In Dirt City is a clearly defined and emotionally mature statement of intent that represents the culmination of these experiences. Pemberton applies an interesting approach to production using samples as a foundation for writing the album, then working with live instrumentalists (Jered Stuffco (DVAS) on keyboards, Ian Koiter (Shad) on bass and string arrangements, Eric Lightfoot on drums and percussion, Paul Prince (The Cansecos) on guitar and Brett Miles (Magilla Funk Conduit) on saxophone) to reconfigure his original compositions. Pemberton then turned the band-recorded tracks into samples for the album to "achieve a listenable, honest approach to integrating a live band into his setup". "I wanted to have a live feel, but I didn't want to sound like the Arsenio Hall band," Pemberton told Paste. "I wanted to make it ambiguous between where the sample ends and the live band begins." Referencing his album's first single "Conditioning" Pemberton goes on to say, "Originally it was a drum machine demo, I wanted it to be a Bo Diddley song. I basically have a band play it as a rock song, then when I took it home, I switched it into half time and turned it into a hybrid-blues track."

Composed of a unique hybrid of psychedelic soul, old school rap, IDM and mutant disco; Hope In Dirt City is a groundbreaking achievement in hip-hop. Cadence Weapon has returned to bring rap back to its essence.

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